


A Simple Retrieval Mission

by paranoid_fridge



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Everyone is BAMF, Gen or Pre-Slash, Humor, Missions Gone Wrong, a dash of angst, featuring another trash compactor, kylo ren did not sign up for this, their growing friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 03:22:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5523551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paranoid_fridge/pseuds/paranoid_fridge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Somewhere, in a remote corner of the galaxy, a new energy technology has been discovered. Since then, the plans have been stolen, and the Resistance would rather not see them end up in the wrong hands. The handsome sum promised for their retrieval is enough to inspire Rey. </p><p>Poe and Finn come along. </p><p>(Of course, things aren't quite so simple)</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Simple Retrieval Mission

**Author's Note:**

> My first foray into Star Wars. 
> 
> But I walked out of the movie huming the theme and thinking about the possibilities. And now am trying to get a grasp on writing those three darlings.
> 
> (Also, I *think* there is nothing to warn for in this, but be mindful of the initially unlinear narrative)

A trash compactor.

Millennia of civilization and centuries of intergalactic exchange and yet when it comes to making unwanted visitors disappear, the universe is surprisingly uncreative. Then again, said lack of creativity is the reason they haven’t been killed on the spot. But it’s also the reason why Finn finds himself pressed against a rather uneven ground of scrap metal and other waste by Poe.

From another corner of the trash compactor Rey curses loudly as she digs herself out.

“Poe, you alright?” Finn asks, attempting to shift.

Poe groans. Stirs and squirms against Finn in a manner that suggests he isn’t entirely certain of his surroundings yet. Finn catches sight of blood matting the side of Poe’s head and his stomach tightens uncomfortably.

“Poe?”

“Would you mind interrupting your honeymoon for a moment?” Rey asks, staring at something Finn can’t quite see. “We have trash.”

“Yes,” Finn mutters, “A lot of trash here. It’s a trash compactor.”

“No, First Order trash,” Rey clarifies.

“What?” Finn bursts out and his attempt to sit up causes Poe to roll aside with groan. “Sorry,” he tells the pilot, gives his shoulder a pat and scrambles to his knees, “But what, Rey, what?”

She just points downward. Now, Finn can see the hollow formed between the mounds of trash, too. And there, even farer from consciousness than Poe, lies another familiar form.

Kylo Ren.

*******

It begins, as these things are won’t to do, with the Resistance intercepting a rather sensitive transmission. Folks inhabiting the three planets just outside of the Orion nebula in the Pentesus system (backwater, even on a cosmic scale. Though that has so far kept them nicely out of the galaxy’s political struggles) apparently made a breakthrough in energy technology.

Then those plans got stolen.

The Resistance since traced the theft to a group of black market dealers based on Neptune 5.

“So we march in and steal them back?” Rey had cheerfully inquired after having seen the price offered by the Pentesus folk for the plans’ retrieval.

“No,” she had been told, and Finn had nodded along because he may have spent all his life with the First Order, but that had brought him to quite a few planetary systems. Even if not to Neptune 5.

“It’s a fairly expensive vacation planet.”

“Great,” Poe had chimed in, “I’m overdue some vacation anyway.”

“You can take vacation days with the Resistance?” Finn had inquired, later.

Poe had shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Nobody stops them from leaving anyhow.

***

The problem with Neptune 5 being a vacation planet means that not spaceships are allowed into the planet’s orbit, which leads to Rey, Finn and Poe leaving the Millennium Falcon docked at planet’s large space terminal.

Entering the hustle and buzz of arriving and departing vacationers leaves Finn feeling stranded, Rey at odds, and only Poe manages to pull off a semblance of looking as if he actually ought to be there. Around them the wealthy of the galaxy chat and laugh, and Finn marvels that such a place exists.

He’s known about it, certainly. But only now that he has left behind the First Order, that he can think for himself, he can grasp the vast discrepancies between the lives of those that come here to enjoy fresh air and simply relaxing. Finn can barely imagine a life outside of duty – what would he do with the time.

Rey never imagined single individuals holding enough wealth to afford this luxury.

They are so busy staring; they almost miss the blue and green droid approaching them with a soft, pleasant whirr.

"Welcome to the Neptune 5 vacation center," the droid chirps while it scans the three newcomers, "What may I do for you?" If it finds them in its database, it gives no inclination.

Poe's smile widens in a spike of panic. "Well, we're here for a vacation, of course," he chirps, "Me, and my partner and..."

"Their assistant," Rey interrupts and steps forward while nudging Finn toward Poe with slightly more force then necessary. Finn catches himself on Poe’s shoulder, blinking. “Partner?” he hisses, and Rey adds a loud “A pleasure to be here" to cover Poe’s “Well, sure”.

"It will be our pleasure to host you," the droid returns and Rey is glad the droid has been programmed to ignore strange humanoid behavior, "Do you have a reservation?"

"No," Poe fibs with and wraps his arm around Finn’s waist. The gesture looks rather stiff, and Finn is quite glad his blush is not that visible. "This was a spontaneous idea?"

“Would you like to reserve accommodation? Our beach bungalows are the most popular choice, though we also offer inland houses or private islands,” the droid suggests.

Rey swallows and thinks of the money they don’t have. Poe might be thinking the same. “Actually, we wanted to take a look around, first, don’t we?” he flashes a sugary smile at Finn before turning back to the droid. “Is that’s alright?”

“That is fine,” the droid chirps back, “Once you set down a credit account; you are free to move on Neptune 5 as you please.”

Rey has never in her life had a credit account. Poe might, but it’s unlikely he possesses the type of credit necessary to open the doors to the vacation planet’s surface area.

Finn steps forward. Straightens his back, and gives Poe’s shoulder a short pat. “It’s on me.”

***

“Who is paying for this?” Rey inquires as the doors finally slide open, revealing a world of green palm trees, white beaches and turquoise water under a clear blue sky. Inconspicuous shuttles of glass and steel glide almost noiselessly through the sky between flocks of colorful birds.

Finn shrugs. “The First Order. I gather we have about an hour before they notice.”

“Then we should make most of our time here,” Poe suggests and takes a deep breath, “Let’s make the First Order pay!”

“And get back the plans,” Rey reminds them.

“Both,” Finn suggests diplomatically.

*******

“Well, I’m not going to say he’s not where he belongs,” Finn mutters, “He’s out cold, no?” Because a conscious Kylo Ren is significantly worse than an unconscious one. Especially when the situation is going badly.

“But we’re here as well, in case you forgot,” Rey replies.

Poe murmurs something. Finn’s bites his lower lip – the injury did not look too bad, but what if it is worse, what if Poe broke something?

“Can we make sure he stays out?” he asks Rey, and nods to the unconscious Sith.

Rey tilts her head questioningly.

“He’s got anger management issues,” Finn clarifies.

*******

The First Order doesn’t even need to learn of the account fraud. They are already on Neptune 5. (Some of them are actually here for a vacation). But not Kylo Ren.

Kylo Ren's smile widens as he looks at the bright green suitcase. He can feel the force stirring, sense the attention Ren focuses on it. She will come for it, he knows, and then they can finish this.

"Leave," he tells his unit of storm troopers, "Wait for me in the outer orbit." In a fight between him and Rey, they will only be a hindrance.

So focused is he on his plans, he fails to notice the presence of approximately thirty angry Neptarian nomads. They'd rather have those plans, and they aren't much interested in the Republic, the First Order, or the Resistance.

(They’d also rather sell those plans to the highest bidder, get rid of the troublemakers, and get back to running their vacation planet.)

***

"Really?" Poe asks as he sets his binoculars aside and turns to his companions, "Really?"

"They got him good," Finn cheers as he watches the nomads drag off Kylo Ren's unconscious body, "Go guys, go! They're doing us a favor!"

"Be as that as it may," Rey says, "They also got the plans.”

*******

“You’ll be quite alright,” Rey states as she and Finn lift Poe up into a sitting position, “The cut isn’t deep. You might have a headache, though.”

The pilot presses a hand to his forehead and groans in response. “Yes, tell me again,” he mutters. But he remains upright when the other two let go of him, though his face wrinkles in obvious discomfort.

Finn casts a nervous glance toward the mound of trash that hides Kylo Ren’s body. “We should get out.”

Rey sighs. “And how do we do that? I don’t see a door marked exit anywhere.”

“There should be one,” Finn says, studying the sheer seeming black walls surrounding them “These trash compactors always have them.”

A loud click-clang echoes through the press. Finn freezes. Rey gazes up with dread written across her face. The hum of electricity charging up fills the air.

“They also are, well, compactors,” she says just before the walls begin to move with a whirr.

*******

At this point Finn should probably know better than to trust any plan hatched in less than thirty minutes. Especially since they developed it while sipping some fruity, far-too-colorful drinks with little umbrellas in it. And with each of them contemplating the possibility of disappearing into the lush greenery of Neptune 5.

But in the end they clink glasses to their completely harebrained retrieval mission.

Not much later, they approach the stronghold of the Neptarians where both the bright green suitcase and Kylo Ren have been transported. It’s a grand, opulent structure build to entice wealthy holidaymakers into spending even more money.

"Act like a couple," Rey hisses as the doors slide open, revealing a bright lobby with sparkling chandeliers, low white sofas and pastel silk tapestries. “You’re on your way back to your suite.”

“Yes,” Poe gives a short nod, and takes Finn’s hand. He pulls them forward confidently. “It’s been quite a day, darling,” he declares loudly, “Let’s take a rest.”

Finn isn’t quite sure just why his heart starts racing. But he pastes on his best smile, too. “Yes, let’s. What was our room number again?”

“488,” Rey replies smoothly, keeping her gaze fixed at the tablet in her hand and playing the attentive assistant. “This way.”

They all breathe a sigh of relief as they make it out of the lobby and into the elevator undisturbed. Not that anybody looked as if they had been paying attention to the three of them – all too wrapped up in their own lives.

The elevator ride is much too short.

The corridor is empty. Aware of the surveillance cameras tracking their every movement, none of them dares to speak. It’s not unlikely they’ll set off an alarm once they try to open the door to suite 488, but they might just attempt running if they get so far.

And maybe they should have grown suspicious when things actually proceeded according to their harebrained, last-minute plan.

With a soft click, the lock opens.

They exchange a look.

Enter the room.

And find the bright green suitcase sitting in the middle of the room.

“Well, that was easy,” Poe comments.

The moment he has stepped over the threshold, all drawers and closets jump open, revealing guns trained on Poe. In the corridor, the other rooms open too, and armed-to-their-teeth Neptarians step out.

“Too easy,” Poe adds with a sigh.

*******

“I hate this planet,” Poe mutters as he struggles to his feet. Finn steadies him unconsciously. The trash underneath their feet shifts; the first parts being crushed as the solid, metal walls close in. Dread spreads through Finn, he looks to Rey.

“What do we do?”

She shifts. “I don’t know – didn’t you work in sanitation? You said there was an exit!”

The walls are despairingly smooth.

“Not here,” Poe murmurs, slumping against Finn who wraps an arm around the pilot’s waist to steady him, and this isn’t the right time to appreciate how just how much trust the Resistance’s star pilot is putting into an ex-Stormtrooper.

“Probably below,” Finn says, forcing himself to focus, because their time is running out. “We’re likely standing on three of four meters of trash; the emergency exit will be close to the bottom.”

“Then we need to –“

“Wait!” Finn calls out, “Somewhere – there!” He points up excitedly. “See that panel up there? Behind that there’s a lever that’ll stop the compactor!”

“Great!” Rey shouts over the rising din of trash being crushed, “And how do we get there?”

Finn’s heart skips a beat. They can’t fail now, not so close to their goal –

With a loud, violent screech, a huge piece of metal is grinded down into pieces and Finn’s blood runs cold, as he stumbles to keep his balance. This is going to be their fate, he thinks and tugs Poe a little closer to himself, this is how they’ll die. There’s barely three meters of space left between the walls, and that won’t take long. Nothing can stop the powerful machines; a human body will be squeezed to death within a few, painful moments.

“Finn…” Poe murmurs, dazedly, as another piece of metal groans behind them.

Finn looks up to the hidden panel with despair – there must be a way to reach that lever. Perhaps if they build some ladder from the trash –

“Finn…”

The panel explodes outward in a shower of red sparks. Rey yells, Finn stumbles back, and drops him and Poe to their knees as he catches sight of a billowing black cape from the corner of his eye.

“You said that was the panel?” Kylo Ren inquires as he sways on his feet. “The lever – pulling it will make this stop?” A thin trickle of blood runs down the side of his face. Hearing the anger in his voice still makes Finn hold his breath.

But without his mask, he does look a lot less scary.

“Yes,” Finn stammers belatedly, “It should.”

Kylo Ren groans, flings out his hand. The lever shirt-circuits, breaks off and falls down onto the trash below. Kylo Ren sinks to his knees, holding his head. Apparently Poe isn’t the only one sporting a nasty, Neptarian-induced headache.

“It stopped,” Rey declares while she eyes the walls warily, “At least for now. We should find the exit.”

***

They actually make it out alive. Bedraggled, aching and worse-for-wear the four of them emerge into the backwater wilderness of Neptune five, right behind an ugly concrete bunker that houses the trash compactor.

“And what do we do now?” Finn asks, eyeing the –admittedly picturesque – surroundings: bright green trees, soft grass and a clear, blue river. Except for the unmanned trash compactor they just escaped from, there are however no traces of human inhabitation.

Rey turns her gaze north. “We hike,” she declares, “If I remember correctly, there should be some bungalows coming up along the river.”

“Please don’t let it be far,” Poe mumbles, and Finn finds himself growing worried once more. Maybe the head injury is rather more serious – for Poe to still complain of it… On the other hand, Kylo Ren looks as if he shares Poe’s hopes, and they both got knocked out by Neptarian stun guns. Whereas Finn and Ren merely got locked up.

Finn shudders at the memory.

Hiking along the river feels almost pleasant. Nobody is shooting at them or hunting them down, some curious birds come close, and Finn likes the feeling of soft grass under his shoes. One day, he thinks, he’d like to try walking on if barefoot. He doesn’t think he ever did it before, but now it strikes him as a significant experience to make.

Kylo Ren tags after them warily. He’s without weapons or form of contact, and while Finn dreads what may happen the moment they reach the next settlement, for now the Sith appears quite occupied with himself.

Finn can feel Poe’s gait grow steadier as they walk. The lingering effects of being knocked out seem to finally be wearing off, and Finn is far too relieved to comment on the fact that Poe continues leaning on him.

If he is honest with himself, he rather enjoys their closeness.

There is a very short and bemusing moment when they encounter another two hikers. The elderly couple talks rather loudly in their language, and while Finn can’t understand them, he knows when he is being talked about.

Rey intervenes before he does. Without blinking an eye, she replies to the lady in their own language.

Poe snorts.

“What did she say?” Finn asks, leaning closer toward Poe despite the fact that he still has his arm around Poe’s waist and Poe’s arm rests around his shoulders.

“Called Kylo Ren our rebellious cousin,” he translates, “Apparently we’re on a family outing now.”

***

Their family time ends not much later when Rey draws them to a halt. “Alright,” she announces, “If I recall correctly, the settlement should be behind that hill.” She points to a green hill – not the tallest, but enough to hide the landscape beyond from view – to their west.

“Now, to resolve this as peacefully as possible, I suggest we enter separately.” She shifts her glance to Kylo Ren, who glares at her in return.

“We haven’t finished,” he hisses, “Come with me, let me bring you to my Master, and he will show you how to use the Force. You are wasted where you are!”

Rey rolls his eyes, rocks back on her feet. “Will you take the path going around the left side of the hill?”

“I will bring you to him, against your will if I must, but you will see! See that the dark side is the only true side, and –“

“Answer the question!” Poe interrupts sharply.

Kylo Ren’s eerie glare shifts. “And we will get you, too. And you, little Stormtrooper.” His sheer bottomless eyes find Finn. “You will pay for what you did.”

“We could also just leave you here,” Rey declares with an exasperated sigh.

With death in his eyes, Kylo Ren eventually turns around and stalks off. Rey breathes a sigh of relief the moment the black-clad shape vanished behind the green hill, though Finn grows tense.

“Shouldn’t we be going, too? He’s likely to call in reinforcements.”

Rey shrugs. “He’s taking the longer way around. The settlement is actually behind the other hill.”

***

They are all more than glad once they’re back aboard the Millennium falcon and far from Neptune 5’s orbit. No vessels of the First Order have shown up, and perhaps Kylo Ren is still hiking through Neptune 5’s vacation resorts.

BB8 rolls into the ship’s command section, beeping cheerfully.

“It was rather adventurous, yes,” Poe confirms, rubbing at the now bandaged cut above his eyebrow. “No, we didn’t get hurt. At least not too badly.”

BB-8’s chirp sounds rather as if the tiny droid is disagreeing, and Rey’s chuckle confirms it for Finn.

“No, we didn’t get the plans,” Poe states with a sigh, “The Neptarians still have them. But I don’t think they’ll sell them to the First Order.”

Rey slumps into her seat. “I still would’ve liked the price money.”

“Actually,” Finn says, and fumbles for the small drive in his pocket before pulling it out, “This could be a decoy. Or it could be the real thing.”

Both, Rey and Poe look at him like he had just single-handedly saved the galaxy. Finn finds himself growing warm as blood rises into his cheeks and his heart swells with another unfamiliar emotion.

“When – where – how did you get it?” Rey asks.

Finn shrugs. “After the Neptarians stunned Poe, I spotted something on one of the tables.”

Rey’s eyes widen. “When they made us kneel – I wondered why you made such a production of it!” she exclaims.

Finn nods. “Yes, I wasn’t certain, but I wanted to get close enough to the table to get a look, and then swiped it.”

“But how did you spot it in the first place?” Poe asks, amazement coloring his voice and to Finn the sheer happiness and admiration he sees in his friends’ faces is the greatest thing in the world.

“Good eyes,” Finn explains with a smile tugging on the corners of his mouth, “And I used to work in sanitation.”

“Finn, that is amazing!” Rey shouts, and before Finn quite knows what is happening, she has thrown her arms around him and is hugging him. Laughing, Poe joins in, though his weight topples them all backward onto a resting pat that squeaks in protest. BB-8 rolls over, beeping loudly, and settling himself affectionately between their tangled legs.

And even though he is getting squished by their combined weights, Finn knows there’s no place in the entire galaxy where he’d rather be.

_Fin_


End file.
